No Skin in the Game

The president's full statement yesterday afternoon on Charlottesville makes it pretty clear he has no skin in the game. 

A man apparently incapable of speaking with any emotion unless he's talking about himself, bashing others (bad hombres, Muslims, members of the judiciary, his opponents, other Republicans, a Gold Star family, a bona fide American hero, members of his cabinet, former presidents, foreign allies, members of the media, etc.) or gushing about dictators and other horrible people, had this to say yesterday afternoon.  The words are his; the emphasis is mine. 

Thank you very much. As you know, this was a small press conference, but a very important one. And it was scheduled to talk about the great things that we're doing with the secretary on the veterans administration. And we will talk about that very much so in a little while. But I thought I should put out a comment as to what's going on in Charlottesville. So, again, I want to thank everybody for being here, in particular I want to thank our incredible veterans. And thank you, fellas. Let me shake your hand. They're great people. Great people.

Yeah, I guess as president, you should say something about a clash between White Supremacists, or White Nationalists (sorry - it seems they prefer the less direct term) carrying Nazi flags, Confederate flags, some wearing KKK regalia, and counter-protesters, the 'antifa' or anti-fascists. 

 But we're closely following the terrible events unfolding in Charlottesville, Virginia. We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence (on many sides--on many sides). It's been going on for a long time in our country. Not Donald Trump, not Barack Obama, this has been going on for a long, long time. It has no place in America. What is vital now is a swift restoration of law and order and the protection of innocent lives. No citizen should ever fear for their safety and security in our society. And no child should ever be afraid to go outside and play or be with their parents and have a good time.

Many, many sides? Really? What side is it that drove the car into the crowd? Was that many, many sides, or was it just one side?  And whatever are you thinking, talking about children going outside to play or "have a good time" with their parents? Is that what they were showing on Fox News? 

I just got off the phone with the governor of Virginia, Terry McAuliffe, and we agree that the hate and the division must stop, and must stop right now. We have to come together as Americans with love for our nation and true affection-- really, I say this so strongly, true affection for each other.

Have I missed your affectionate offerings of olive branches to any of the millions of Americans you have offended since becoming a presidential candidate (and before).

Our country is doing very well in so many ways. We have record -- just absolute record employment. We have unemployment the lowest it's been in almost 17 years. We have companies pouring into our country, Foxconn and car companies and so many others. They're coming back to our country. We're renegotiating trade deals to make them great for our country and great for the American worker.

An act of terrorism just occurred in Charlottesville, and as president you can't help talking about your record, such as it is, after seven months in office? Do you really think that anyone gives a rat, at the moment domestic terrorism occurred in Virginia, about NAFTA and China? 

We have so many incredible things happening in our country, so when I watch Charlottesville, to me it's very, very sad. I want to salute the great work of the state and local police in Virginia. Incredible people. Law enforcement, incredible people. And also the National Guard. They've really been working smart and working hard. They've been doing a terrific job. Federal authorities are also providing tremendous support to the governor. He thanked me for that. And we are here to provide whatever other assistance is needed. We are ready, willing and able. 

Never mind that some question the response of law enforcement during the altercations before the 20-year old terrorist drove his car into a crowd marching in the opposite direction, including a hands off, stand down approach according to some - just make sure to mention yourself.

Above all else, we must remember this truth: No matter our color, creed, religion or political party, we are all Americans first. We love our country. We love our god.

Never mind that the Unite the Right rally participants apparently don't share your thinking that we all love the same god - nor do many Americans who don't worship 'your' god. Never mind that many of us don't worship a god at all - and we too, are Americans, just like you. 

We love our flag. We're proud of our country. We're proud of who we are, so we want to get the situation straightened out in Charlottesville, and we want to study it. And we want to see what we're doing wrong as a country where things like this can happen.

For starters, I suggest you study your own words, your campaign rallies, your tweets, your interviews, and more. And then study this Michael Jackson classic.  Or, you could study David Duke; he's certainly studied you:

We are determined to take our country back... We are going to fulfill the promises of Donald Trump. That's what we believed in. That's why we voted for Donald Trump, because he said he's going to take our country back.

Or, maybe you could study Steve Bannon, or Sebastian Gorka or your friend Alex Jones. Anyway, let's continue with your statement:

My administration is restoring the sacred bonds of loyalty between this nation and its citizens, but our citizens must also restore the bonds of trust and loyalty between one another. 

#WhatTheEverlovingSniff are you even talking about - "the sacred bonds of loyalty" between the country and its citizens? That's truly laughable given your appointments, your pronouncements, your actions, your exhortations of division throughout your official political career.

We must love each other, respect each other and cherish our history and our future together. So important. We have to respect each other.

If you had any skin in this game, you'd know that it is our very history that brought the alt-right and the antifa groups to Charlottesville in the first place. It is our very history - slavery, discrimination, criminalization, and more - that the alt-right and others absolutely do not agree on, will never agree on, and will never 'cherish together.'

And our future is a joint venture only in that it is our future - but it is not, again, a 'cherish together' future in the eyes of many, when one group wants to eliminate the other, oppress the other, stake a higher claim on their Americanism than the other - or it feels that way to the other side, whether it's angry white men like the ones on the alr-right or their opponents like the ones that were mowed down. What history and future are you cherishing, and with whom?

If you had any skin in the game, you would not be spouting emotionless, #MAGAfortunecookiebullshit -- you'd be screaming "radical right-wing terrorism" from the roof of the White House as you did "radical Islamic terrorism" so many times over the years.

Ideally, we have to love each other.

You actually said that? Tell you what -- you go first. Move on us like a bitch and show us the love.

Get rid of the alt-right members of your administration. Take back a single hateful discriminatory, sexist, violent comment you've made just in the last two years. Apologize to a single person - not a whole race, religion, or country - just a single person.

Try loving someone else for a change.